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It is 1157, and a young nun from Hawkenlye Abbey has been found with her throat slashed. The people of rural Kent are quick to jump to conclusions: Surely the murderer must be one of the felons released by the new king, Richard Plantagenet, as a sign of his goodness and charity. When King Richard dispatches a soldier of fortune, Josse d'Acquin, ... more »to investigate the shockingly brutal crime, Josse understands that his true mission is to absolve the king from blame. But neither the king nor Josse has reckoned with the one person who is determined to find the truth at all costs--the remarkable Abbess of Hawkenlye, who ultimately joins with Josse to uncover the menace lurking behind the orderly facade of life in the convent and the surrounding manors. Fortune Like the Moon not only recreates the violence and beauty of medieval times but introduces a truly wonderful new pair of detectives.« less

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Wonderful debut to what promises to be an excellent historic ecclesiastical series. An English Abbess and a French knight join forces to determine who killed a nun from Hawkenlye Abbey before the death tarnishes the coronation of Richard as king. Nicely plotted, interesting characters and some very plausible plot twists add up to a very good mystery.

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In the summer of 1189, the body of Gunnora, a young nun, is discovered on a path outside of England's Hawkenlye Abbey. This is set in the same time as Richard Plantagenet is preparing to be crowned as King Richard I of England. As part of Richard's plan to win favor with the English people, he had freed masses of petty criminals from the English jails. Now, since Richard is concerned that Gunnora might have been murdered by one of the freed criminals, he decides to send his knight Sir Josse d'Acquin to investigate her death.

When Sir Josse arrives in Hawlenlye, he rapidly concludes that Gunnora was not killed by a petty criminal, but he is intrigued by the circumstances of her death and decides to find out her killer, The story also introduces us to Abbess Helewise, the Abbess of the Hawkenlye Abbey. Together, Josse and Helewise search for the truth. This is the first mystery in this series, and was a very good mystery. The story also does an excellent job of tying in the political uncertainty which reigned in England as Richard I takes the crown.